I am now three weeks out since my last half marathon. When runners are between training cycles, it can be very difficult to decide how much to run...or not run. The first week or so is about recovering from the race, then it becomes a mental and physical tangle of wanting to run and talking oneself into cutting it short because "I'm not training for anything anyway." That's where a good running buddy comes in very handy. If you want enough time to hang out with your friend, time to pound the pavement. I also like to think about Gallileo's law of inertia...an object in motion tends to stay in motion. My old-ish muscles would have a hard time getting rolling again after an extended off period, but if I keep moving I'm much better off. About a week ago, we had a short week at school and Deb took some vacation time, so we decided to do a long run on Friday morning. I don't believe we had settled on any specific distance or time goal, just a general route. Well, we got about 6 miles in when Deb suggested we add on a loop around a pond. This is the same pond that we are anxiously waiting for the holiday lights to appear. It's not that we want to rush the holidays, just that we enjoy the decorated path. I pointed out that this addition would put us over 10 miles, but Deb pointed out that it was such a beautiful day that we shouldn't waste it. That turned out to be an excellent idea and a lovely run of just under 10.5 miles. Some day this winter when it's -20 and we opt to cut it a little short, we can remember that we opted to extend on a nicer day. Hip, hip, horray! It's quilt camp week!!! We will be at quilt camp next weekend enjoying 3 days of sewing, laughing, running, laughing, making new friends, eating and more laughing. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Stephanie and I were just on FaceTime trying to figure out the pattern she was preparing for next week when she reminded me to bring my headlamp for running. It is still dark here at 7:30am, so we will definitely need some lighting, but perhaps a little less on Sunday morning when we will be falling back an hour. The Camp Lebanon staff are fabulous cooks, so a nice long run is very refreshing. Halloween is also coming up this week. I'm a number of years beyond marching around the neighborhood trick-or-treating, but it is fun to see kids dressed up in costumes both at school and at our door. Have you ever done a costume run? I have never done a Halloween-themed one, but did wear holiday spirit wear/costumes for the Snowflake Shuffle a couple of times. Maybe Charlie and I will got out running in costumes this week; in the dark no one would even notice! Charlie wore his costume to do his volunteer work this weekend. Would you give this guy a treat? Buzz Buzz . The clerk at Dollar Tree asked if I had a "little one who is going as a bumble bee" this year. Ummm...yes??? Speaking of the Snowflake Shuffle, the date is Saturday, December 7th at St. Ben's in St. Joseph, MN and raises funds for the track and cross country teams at the college. It is always a fun day and a good cause. Plus, a race put on by runners is generally going to be well organized because they know what they like. And, there will be hot chocolate, what else could a person want?
I will be continuing to use my law of inertia to keep myself moving into the fall and winter weather, like Dorie always says, just keep swimming (running). Have a great Halloween and dare to wear a costume on your next run! Happy running--Missee
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Going on vacation involves a lot of moving parts. Since Charlie joined our family about 3 1/2 years ago, we have not had a vacation that required planning for his care. The places we've stayed or our week at the lake allowed him to come with us. Until this fall, Haley went to school only 10 miles away from us so if we needed it, she could come home and let him out, etc. for a couple days. When we booked our trip to Maine, Mom quickly volunteered that Charlie could come to the farm. It just so happened that Haley and her fiancé had to meet with the priest on the first day of our trip so they came to our house and took care of Charlie for the weekend before meeting up with my parents to tag off and send Charlie to the farm for a few days. I think we've mentioned in previous blogs that Stephanie's and my children (ages 14-24) all love to go Grandma's, "and you don't come, Mom!" It was finally Charlie's turn. We texted to see how he was doing and apparently the little guy had made himself quite at home. He looks pretty comfy sleeping on the couch where he can keep track of the people and see out the picture window. No one knows what goes on at Grandma and Grandpa's when the parents aren't there, but all the kids and even the dog sure like it that way. While at the farm, Charlie not only got to go for walks out on the road and in the field, he even got to go to a cross country meet. Charlie has always loved cross country, well mostly he loves people and sweaty knees. There is no place better to find these than at a meet with a lot of hard-working runners. My niece and nephew ran well and think perhaps he is a good luck charm. Mom delivered Charlie back to our house and stayed here with him the last two days. He again enjoyed long and short walks and a trip to the carwash. All of these things might sound like things people would naturally do with dogs. However, Mom does not like animals. She quickly warmed up to Charlie because he's Haley's dog, so he must be good. I kind of wonder if Charlie doesn't consider himself and animal and has convinced Mom of that. Charlie loves her. He is generally very good about not jumping on people, except her; he gets so excited he can't help himself. He also made an exception for Stephanie the last time she was here. We were very appreciative that our family could coordinate to be sure Charlie had a fun vacation while we were gone. It was definitely out their comfort zone for Grandpa and Grandma at the farm to take on dog sitting, but they did it willingly--volunteering before we even had a chance to ask. The kids in the class that mom was subbing in said she was so lucky to be dog sitting, I think we all know who the lucky one was in this scenario. Charlie is wondering when he can go to Grandma's again. With deer hunting coming up quickly, it won't be long before we head up that way. I apologize for anyone longing for a running tale in this blog post. Hopefully a couple of cute dog photos are a like a "rest day" from the running. Happy running! Missee
We recently returned from a fabulous five days in Portland, Maine. It was both my husband's and my first time in that state, so we were very much looking forward to a city right on the ocean in autumn that is known for good food and, of course, a running race. Our trip out there was fairly uneventful other than a mixup at the airport shuttle service. Fortunately, their online system had us book a shuttle that gave more than enough time to get there, so that delay was ok other than I would have rather set my alarm for 1:15am instead of 12:10am to get there. We arrived in Portland at 12:30 Eastern (11:30 Central) excited to start our vacation and a little sleepy. Being up through the night does tricks with a person's appetite but I was sure if I got a good solid lunch once we got to our hotel I would feel just fine. We opted to eat our first meal right in the hotel restaurant. I tried haddock which is a white fish with lobster sauce and my husband opted for a lobster roll which is essentially a sub roll with lobster stuffed inside. Then we were ready to venture out to get my race packet. The hotel suggested we use Uber to get over there. Neither of us had ever tried Uber before, but once we had downloaded the app and figured out the address of where we wanted to go, our driver arrived in mere minutes. One Uber ride and we were both glad we had decided against renting a car. Portlanders drive more aggressively than we thought and parking was sparse. Once inside the expo, it was super easy to get my race packet and shirt. They even allowed people to try them on to be sure the size was correct. I met some nice women while trying on my shirt and we advised one another if we thought they were choosing the right one. The gal right in front of me was running her very first half and was pretty nervous. After the race gear, we proceeded around the expo which I would classify as medium sized. There were some vendors with a variety of wares. If someone needed to purchase something to wear or use at the race, they could probably find it at this expo. We bought my husband an Illuminite jacket. In case you've never seen their products, they sell items that are super reflective without looking like you have escaped from a construction site. He doesn't run, but it will be a nice jacket to walk Charlie or even stepping out into a parking lot. Don't be a Ninja! Our last stop was at the Maine Marathon gear table where everything was super reasonably priced and the customer service was top notch. Consequently, we purchased...a tank top, coffee mug, steel travel cup, last year's race shirt and some logo stickers for about $50. Their logo is super cute, so I was excited about the gear. And, the very friendly woman who helped us designed the travel cup. With her endorsement, of course we needed one :-) On the way out, we stopped a nice couple headed for the parking lot to ask where we should have our Uber drop us off on race morning for best access to the starting area. They gave us great advice and wanted to know where we were from and how we ended up at the race. Then the man gave me his card...he happened to be Bob Dunfey, the Race Director. I guess if we needed some direction, we went straight to the top! The next morning we managed to get another Uber and arrived at the starting area of the race in only a few minutes. I'd have to say, this race had the BEST porta-potty to runner ratio of any event I've been to for a long time. Having a bit of a nervous tummy, I think I got in line four times in the hour before the start and had zero trouble being in the starting area with time to spare. I also walked out on the course a bit before the race. The scenery was beautiful. The weather was nearly perfect--about 45 and sunny. There was a light wind that was only noticeable for a few stretches on the way back, especially over a very large bridge. I started out with a guy running the marathon dressed as a bottle of mustard. He completed another marathon the day before in New Hampshire dressed as ketchup. More than a few people asked if he had a relish costume which he did not...but he does own a hotdog costume! The run itself went really well. The RaceJoy app was encouraging. Each mile, I'd hear how much time had passed since Mile 1, pace for the current mile, average pace and projected finish time. I think Mom and Stephanie were pushing the Cheer button back in MN because shortly after each mile, I'd get one or more "Woo Hoo!" in my ear. With one mile to go, I got a Halleluia chorus. The only disappointing thing was that the app was telling me that my projected finish time was around 1:55:30 and when I finished, it was actually 1:57:12, not a bad time, but I'd have liked the faster one more. The course itself was very nice and lived up to the video I watched with the first five miles being quite flat and then picking up some hills. Ironically, we passed a cemetery right around mile 6 and mile 7 (out and back) and we were really feeling it about then that perhaps we were dead meat on this hill. I really wished I could have gotten a picture at about that point. We had just climbed a giant hill and were headed down a giant hill only to go right back up a second one. The sight of all of the runners, many going my way and a few coming back the other way was a colorful inspiring view and a good diversion to the thought of running the hill. When we got nearly to the top of that second hill, there were signs that the turnaround for the half was coming soon and to go to the last cone to turn. As promised, we turned around at the top, then of course went down the giant hill and then up a giant hill in reverse of where we had just been. According to my Garmin, I only exceeded 9:00 for two miles on the race on Miles 8 and 10. My overall pace per mile was 8:51. For that, I was very pleased. The beauty of running a half marathon is the ability to still do fun stuff the rest of the day afterward. We were back to the hotel and showered in time for a GF lobster roll of my own at Luke's Lobster on the pier and a trolley tour of the city. I chose the tour that included a 1/2 hour stop at Portland Head Lighthouse. I love lighthouses which I'll put into another post, but the trolley/bus/boat tours in a new city are a fun way to learn the history and see where any particular locations are that you'd still like to visit. Plus, you get a ride; I did run 13.1 miles and can still have fun, not necessarily looking to rock climb for the afternoon! I was rocking my race shirt when we went to the Flatbread Company for a GF flatbread topped with roasted beets, kale and yellow pepper. Yumm! This restaurant also had an authentic Maine dessert, the Whoopie Pie in a GF version made into a sundae. I might have had one on three different nights while we were there... Aren't those race shirts super cute?!? You are forgiven if you didn't notice my new orange shirt because of the Whoopie Pie Sundae. Definitely consider incorporating a race into your next vacation. It's a great way to see a new city, meet locals as well as visitors and come home with a few souvenirs. Plus, if the food is super in your destination city, you know you will get a little exercise to burn those calories. Happy running! Missee
Cross Country season is my favorite season of the year. When it comes to weather, we have it all. My children have braved heat, wind, rain, and cold temperatures in the two short months of the season so far. On Tuesday, we had our home meet. It looked like it was going to be a wet and cold day, but it turned out to be dry and an excellent temperature for running! At our local meet, parents decorate a winged shoe for every runner on our team grades 7-12. I snapped a photo of a portion of these shoes. We have an impressive number of runners this year! The grandparents also came to cheer on my children. Two more meets to go before Sections!
Happy Running! -Stephanie |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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